Water storage is still key t Growth means we need to step up projects

In a short 25 or 30 years from now, there will be an estimated 3 million additional people calling Colorado home.

Most of them will live along the Front Range.

All of them will need water.

The big question is where will that water be developed?

The first answer? From agriculture.

That became move evident last week during a seminar hosted by the Central Colorado Water Conservancy District and Colorado State University on dealing with less water in the South Platte River basin.

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One of the presenters at that session was Peter Binney, water director for the city of Aurora. Binney said his city has $1 billion it intends to use to build a pipeline on the river that will bring water back to Aurora from Brighton and to buy additional water supplies — from farmers along the river. Other metropolitan cities have similar plans.

The pipeline will use water that Aurora already owns, and has used at least once. The plan is to reuse that water to its end. That plan is not only smart on Aurora’s part, but it is also legal. One of the ramifications, however, is that will mean less water downstream from Brighton. Less water for Fort Lupton, Greeley, Fort Morgan and Sterling, to name a few.

But it also means less water for agriculture. Farmers along the river are looking at losing 133,000 to 226,000 acres of irrigated farmland along the South Platte in the next 25 years as the exploding population demands put more stress on water.

During his presentation, Binney made an interesting comment: “Had we built Two Forks, we would have all the water we need to meet anticipated needs.”

Two Forks Dam and Reservoir was planned southwest of Denver. It was shot down by environmentalists, some Colorado officials and eventually by the Environmental Protection Agency.

So the second answer to future water development? Water storage projects.

Some are in planning stages already: the enlargement of Seaman Reservoir (northwest of Fort Collins) by the city of Greeley and others; the building of the Glade Reservoir (north of Fort Collins) by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District and its partners, which are also planning reservoirs near Carter Lake and one east of Ault; plus others higher in the mountains.

These projects must be put on the fast-track, because the possibility of another drought, like the one that started this decade, is always on the horizon.

If that happens, current and future residents might be sucking sand from faucets instead of water.